{"id":38843,"date":"2024-10-14T08:34:02","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T15:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=38843"},"modified":"2024-10-14T16:20:42","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T23:20:42","slug":"modeling-the-way-of-justice-for-an-anxious-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/modeling-the-way-of-justice-for-an-anxious-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"Modeling the Way of Justice For an Anxious Generation"},"content":{"rendered":"

In March 2018, I opened up FaceBook one morning only to fall into utter shock and dismay as I peered at the photo in front of me. \u00a0Hanging from a parachute in the clear, blue sky was my 20-year-old daughter, a college sophomore. \u00a0I didn\u2019t find out about her jumping from an airplane from a phone call, a text or an email\u2013rather, I discovered her latest grand adventure on FaceBook while she was away on Spring Break with her friends. \u00a0While my husband laughed at my response, I truly felt my feelings were justified. Afterall, we were the kind of family who embraced embodied experiences together: \u00a0Eating most dinners together, spending major holidays together, celebrating everyone\u2019s birthdays. And,yes! I was\/am the world\u2019s most overprotective mother in the real world\u2013so how could this be my daughter!? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What was it about FaceBook informing me of my daughter jumping from an airplane that made me feel like I wanted to judge her? As Jonathan Haidt observes in\u00a0The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness<\/em>,\u00a0<\/span>social media was training me to think in ways that are, \u201cexactly contrary to the world\u2019s wisdom traditions: Think about yourself first, be materialistic, judgmental, boastful, and petty; seek glory as quantified by likes and followers.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>The challenges for me as a parent are who is the one being affected more by social media, me or my daughter? What part of my thinking and response needs turning down and what part of her thinking and desire for likes are unconscious? \u00a0I have never heard this particular daughter express anxiety but I can testify to the fact that the use of social media has certainly tempted me to anxiety, rather than awe and wonder.<\/span><\/p>\n

The central theme of Jonathan\u2019s Haidt\u2019s book is that in 2010 there was little sign of mental health crisis and because of social media use for young girls and boys, the mental health crisis is all around us. \u00a0As a social psychologist, Haidt explores how a play-based childhood to a phone-based childhood has caused an epidemic of anxiety, self-hatred, competitiveness, and disconnect emotionally from close friends. \u00a0The author writes, \u201cMy central claim in this book is that these two trends\u2013overprotection in the real world and underprotection in the virtual world\u2013are the major reasons why children born after 1995 became the anxious generation.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Just this week I was having a conversation with parents of teens about this issue; the following is how I am working out the central themes of Jonathan Haidt\u2019s arguments:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. As a leader in my field, how does Haidt\u2019s concerns specifically for children\/adolescents impact my life and work?<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    When younger parents ask me how we as parents monitored our daughters\u2019 social media use, I am happy to share how we approached it. \u00a0But far more important in this conversation is the way I talk about their children and other people\u2019s children. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    As I mentioned at the beginning of my post, I am challenged by asking myself how I am affected by social media in my responses to others, people I know well and people with whom I have more loose ties, and even my own adult children when they post. \u00a0In her book,\u00a0Act Like a Leader, Think Like Leader,<\/span><\/em>\u00a0Hermina Ibarra writes how easy it is for leaders to let immediate problems be solved through old mind-sets. \u00a0She encourages leaders to \u201cthink first then act.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Relying on former ways of perceiving or judging the world was an issue for me. As a more seasoned parent talking to a younger parent, I consider the research Haidt so generously provided and by using my critical thinking skills, I work hard, meaning I think through my words, to guard my language from constant negativity keeping my hearers stuck for lack of vision or hope.<\/span><\/p>\n

    For example, In chapter 6, the author details a story about Alexis Spence who hid her Instagram account from her parents and within six months after opening her account, she was hospitalized for an eating disorder.[4]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 This is a tragic story that I witnessed happening both in local high schools and college campuses. The mental health crisis connected to technology is real. However, I would also argue that more is going on than just pure social media use. \u00a0Helping parents of young children and adolescents cast a vision for their family is more valuable. \u00a0Raising a family in our high tech world is a complex issue. \u00a0How can we help simplify it for them? \u00a0I believe we can cite Haidt\u2019s research while helping others see patterns in seemingly unconnected phenomena\u2013like how much time does your child spend with caring adults without technology? Or what habits are ingrained in your daily lives that no one else sees from day to day? \u00a0How can we forge a path for such conversations?<\/span><\/p>\n

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    1. In looking back at past speakers and readings, have we encountered similar arguments about technology\u2019s impact on our psychology?<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      In\u00a0Jesus and The Powers,<\/span><\/em>\u00a0Wright and Byrd argue that our foundational mandate as Christians is to reorder our lives according to the symbols and story of Jesus. \u00a0Challenging their readers\u2019 spiritual formatiom they ask, \u201cAm I more shaped by Scripture or social media? How do I build for the Kingdom in the face of menacing empires while resisting the inevitable seduction to create an empire of our own?\u201d[5]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 Although these pre-eminient biblical and religious scholars are writing about faith and politics, the principal of starting with Scripture still applies to our debacle with overprotective parents in the real world and underprotection in the virtual world.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Similarly, Dr. Jason Clark during his lecture on\u00a0Emodied Intelligence<\/span><\/em>, where he explored the identity gap for people and their bodies,[6]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0pointed his listeners to Who gives us life:<\/span><\/p>\n